Monument honors circus employees killed in gruesome train crash
Con T. Kennedy Show workers killed after train crashes and catches fire
Less than a mile from where the circus is performing in Columbus this weekend, a mass grave holds the charred remains of as many as 24 circus workers who died in a horrific train wreck in 1915.In the northwest section of historic Riverdale Cemetery, a large stone monument, cut to resemble a circus tent, is the lone marker in a large family-size plot. Set in the ground at the plot’s entrance is a small stone marker engraved: “Employees of the Con. T. Kennedy Shows Killed In Wreck Nov. 22, 1915.”News accounts of that day tell gruesome, if sometimes inconsistent, stories of a crash and fire so terrible that no official number of dead could ever be established. Estimates ranged from 12 to 24, and make little mention of the many circus animals that died.
According to the Columbus Enquirer-Sun, it began early on the morning of Nov. 22, 1915, when a special train carrying the Con. T. Kennedy Carnival Show pulled out of Atlanta, headed for a performance in Phenix City. The 28-car train carried scores of people, from Con. T. Kennedy himself to the vagabonds who made the daily spectacle of the circus possible. It also carried animals and tons of equipment.A few hours later, as the circus train headed southwest, an east-bound passenger train on a run from Birmingham to Macon had been ordered to pull onto a side track in Columbus and wait for the circus train to pass. Whether the order was ignored, miscommunicated or forgotten isn’t known. But for whatever reason, Central of Georgia Passenger Train No. 2 pulled out of Columbus at 1:26 p.m., nine minutes before it was scheduled.In a few minutes, near where the rail tracks cross Bull Creek in what is now east Columbus, the two trains met, each traveling about 30 mph, according to reports of the day.
Read more: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2011/01/15/1420957/monument-honors-24-killed-in-gruesome.html#ixzz1B9oibZ27
According to the Columbus Enquirer-Sun, it began early on the morning of Nov. 22, 1915, when a special train carrying the Con. T. Kennedy Carnival Show pulled out of Atlanta, headed for a performance in Phenix City. The 28-car train carried scores of people, from Con. T. Kennedy himself to the vagabonds who made the daily spectacle of the circus possible. It also carried animals and tons of equipment.A few hours later, as the circus train headed southwest, an east-bound passenger train on a run from Birmingham to Macon had been ordered to pull onto a side track in Columbus and wait for the circus train to pass. Whether the order was ignored, miscommunicated or forgotten isn’t known. But for whatever reason, Central of Georgia Passenger Train No. 2 pulled out of Columbus at 1:26 p.m., nine minutes before it was scheduled.In a few minutes, near where the rail tracks cross Bull Creek in what is now east Columbus, the two trains met, each traveling about 30 mph, according to reports of the day.Read more: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2011/01/15/1420957/monument-honors-24-killed-in-gruesome.html#ixzz1B9oibZ27
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